Quality assurance in Ghanaian polytechnics: perspectives and strategies of rectors, vice rectors and quality assurance officers

Abstract

This study investigated the perspectives of Ghanaian rectors, vice rectors and quality assurance officers’ on quality assurance, their origins and their quality assurance strategies. Underpinned by symbolic interactionism, a qualitative methodological approach via in-depth interviewing of twenty key informants and document analysis was used to establish how they defined their situations and addressed problematic situations in quality assurance. The findings revealed that respondents’ quality assurance perspectives had internal and external dimensions. Their internal quality assurance perspectives covered human resources, teaching and learning, and management whilst their external quality assurance perspective focused on institutional, national and global contexts. These embraced achieving institutional goals, delivering quality programmes, achieving national development, protecting national economic interest, equipping students with international competencies and enhancing mutual recognition of credentials globally. It emerged that, their perspectives on quality assurance originated from interactions with each other, from group life and reference groups. It was also discovered that their quality assurance strategies focused on staff and students but in different ways. The study concludes by generating substantive and formal propositions on quality assurance in polytechnics and public funded higher education institutions. A recommendation for further research into quality assurance perspectives of vice chancellors, pro-vice chancellors and quality assurance directors of Ghanaian universities is made. A similarly designed study be used to explore how quality assurance rhetoric of rectors, vice rectors and quality assurance officers’ matches the actual institutional experience.